♪ taylor: i'm taylor riggs and this is the "best of bloomberg: technology." up, fears over the spread of the coronavirus promptly cancellation of the premier mobile industry conference. we will have all of the fallout. plus, we look at how the virus is affecting big tech bottom line as alibaba sounds a warning

for revenue growth. in samsung and unveiled their new lineup. we take a look at these new devices. there seems to be no end in sight over concerns about the coronavirus. -- death toll has jumped after hubei province revised its death toll. quarantinedve been in yokohama, japan and the national energy agency warned global demand for oil will drop. the allen and i spoke with chief market strategist at trustmark global investment on thursday. . >> we are always watching headlines but one thing we tell our clients is we want to look through the headlines when it investments.

but day-to-day, yes, the virus has caused volatility. we saw that a little bit. submarkets come back and gain a percent of what they lost earlier. a lot of that is because the increase in cases was do to a case of methodology and so it included a lot of people who already have the virus. selloff andwe had a we saw that come back throughout the day. but yes, coronavirus is driving the headlines now and battling some of the more fundamental things, the earnings and the strong economic reports that we are seeing. paul: we did see small caps bounce today, which reversed a trend. what is your theory on that? victoria: we know that small caps have much more of a domestic feel to them. if a lot of the downside we are seeing in the markets is coming from the coronavirus scare and

from uncertainty outside of the u.s., we can see where maybe small caps are starting to do a little better because they do not have some of those same concerns. we will have to see. one day does not make a trend, as you are well aware, so we will have to see how those things continue over the next couple weeks. taylor: that was victoria fernandez. the coronavirus is starting to reverberate into the global tech space. some chinese manufacturers are beginning to reopen, but no one knows how deep the disruptions go for tech companies. spoke with guests. >> a lot of confusion and uncertainty. the benchmark people look to is the sars epidemic, but so much has changed since then.

china, as a center of consumption, has ramped up considerably. a lot has changed. now that the coronavirus eclipsedps sars -- sars. chairman to foxconn's and also obtained an email and they have told workers of the unit that produced the unit to not come and. aboutre clearly worried the nightmare scenario of an outbreak. we will see people come back to work much more gradually. taylor: with foxx on creating the majority of the worlds iphones, what is the impact we will see? spot of good news is that

this is a soft time of year. the upgrade cycles for phones is in the fall, the holiday shopping season is the big time of year for tech things -- companies. so there is a good chance they could make up the shortfall later in the year. but we got an email from the chairman of foxconn who said he was lowering estimates for the year. you see a lot of companies are being cautious in terms of what this means, but foxconn is a great bellwether. if there's a hit, no one knows how quite -- quite how big it will be. >> we saw a statement from tesla that they were prepared to restart production. at the same time, we are hearing some of these companies are not going to participate in this big, mobile conference.

what is the sense here? quickly ort back up will this drag out? >> i think it will drag out for the foreseeable future. i think all of these companies are looking at it quickly and carefully. conference is important for the year. these connections are paramount. mention at to practicality factor. you have workers coming back from their holidays and facing transportation blockades, quarantines, it is simply

impossible to get back to work. taylor: that was brad stone. and this week, several big companies announced they were pulling out of the mobile world conference over concerns of the virus. then, organizers scrapped the event entirely. saidstatement they concerns make it impossible to hold the event. we spoke with mark gurman for reaction to the news and implications to the companies involved. it is significant in that it will have a true economic pact on the city of barcelona, which does everything it can to support the conference. it'll put a delay or hold on a lot of business meetings and potential deals. day, thed of the

overall impact is insignificant we are in the year 2020 and of these things can be rescheduled. expectingat were we from that conference? >> we were expecting a lot of hoopla around 5g. perspective, i know motorola was set to announce a slew of new phone. giants,the major nothing new from apple, samsung, or any of the big players. we are in a time with lots of companies like to make these big , splash announcements on their own timelines. opportunityive an

to get people in the same place talking about development. more broadly, will this have implications for things like 5g rollouts or other deals? >> any deals of major importance will be rescheduled. i feel that if there were any critical meetings, there would have -- they would have happened already. meetings to get things done happen asap rather than at a unscheduled conference. if verizon and qualcomm had made her meetings scheduled, they could have just met separately. that is more fantasy than reality. taylor: that was mark gurman. includinge to come, breaking up big tech. u.s. regulators are demanding data on acquisitions big and small.

news, like bloomberg check us out on the radio. you can listen online and in the u.s. on sirius xm. this is bloomberg. ♪

taylor: the ftc wants to know more about big tech and its acquisitions, specifically some that may have eliminated emerging competitors. they have told five large companies to provide information about deals that were not reported to antitrust agencies. , amazon, include apple alphabet, facebook, and microsoft. we discussed this with michael levine. it is probably facebook at

the top of the list. i am looking at that in conjunction with them seeking an injection trying to stop facebook from tying together different messaging platforms. if we had written about this, there would have been a lot more synergies than people appreciate. taylor: are we talking about whatsapp, instagram? >> i think that's it. those are the ones that are needle-moving. taylor: what are the implications? a threat is one thing. real breakup is another. what are the odds of real action? that even if they bring a case, it would take years.

we have gotten more negative on the stock on the basis of fundamental work we have been doing combined with eight -- a disappointing outlook for the year. things thate of the is kept on the sidelines and i think will continue to act as an overhang. you will see multiples conceivably grind even lower. possible there is simply nothing to see here, and more broadly, does regulatory risk just come with the territory nowadays? >> i think there actually is something to say. there is pretty clear dominance within the social space and one thing that has been so remarkable about facebook is this ability to leverage data across platforms. earlier point, taylor,

we are obviously positive about google. then't want to brush under , buts conceivable issues we saw chatter a couple of weeks it may be used as a means of appeasing the regulators. that was michael levine. beenile and sprint have steering their merger through a regulatory maze for nearly two years. say theyompanies expect to close as soon april 1. we got reaction with jennifer reed. >> i think the decision was a surprise, particularly amongst the antitrust analysts and

lawyers. rather than taking a presumptively anticompetitive shares and on market a commonly used index, no set fortht the test in the doj guidelines. instead, if you take them all and put them all together, they always against this and rebut this presumption the deal is anti-competitive. also, the judge accepted the remedies to divest assets to dish and set it up as a another competitor in the market. taylor: who needed this deal more? >> absolutely sprint. had it not gone through, t-mobile would have continued its profitable path. butay have been difficult,

sprint was definitely in a difficult spot. they have reputational, network problems, they had debt. 5g, they weret of not ever going to get to a place where they could compete with -- compete. so the biggest winner here is softbank and sprint. questionld on taylor's , masayoshi son has had an enriching year. think thisly, and i was really needed. they should thank john legere for this. through.is genius came decided that the maverick and corporate culture

he had built was really going to continue, even when it was a larger company combined with sprint. sprint was really lucky in this decision, given what they have been going through. andn terms of masayoshi son the vision fund, softbank is being urged to go ahead with a buyback. this dealompletion of make those things likely? >> i would think so. it is trying out of my area of , but looksnalysis like it will start putting things in place for softbank. lyft came out up, with results that beat expectations. we dive into the numbers next. this is bloomberg.

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taylor: u.s.-based ride-hailing app lyft result this week narrowly beat analyst estimates, it was not enough to impress. stock fell afterwards as the company admitted it could not promise profits sooner. the advantage of having its earnings first, surprising investors by moving up profitability targets. to be clear, we are talking about adjusted profitability. yeah, they are still growing impressively. they got to a billion dollars in

they have the disadvantage of being smaller and uber has just had more time to become a huge business. particular, is focused on business customers. -- lyft just lift does not want to commit to the same timeline. taylor: i think you hit it spot on and you said the profitability targets are adjusted. two analysts care that it is supposed to be you bitter -- ebitda/ -- ebitda? shockinge level, it is to be talking about uber getting to profitability. i think it was something like 8 billion on a net income basis.

uber is losing a ton of money, but the reason we focus on these adjusted numbers is because they get investors some way to their head around how the company starts to make money. that is sort of the framework markets are paying attention to what we have been talking about. it's important to remember there have been huge stock and other expenses that are still going to be a problem for these companies . >> part of the problem here is that the market is simply saturated. today need to find new ways to make money? lyft had the advent of growing into the market.

said theytors have are going to follow the law of large numbers. they have gone into food and other industries in a way lyft hasn't come and so far, their message has been focus. they can run aow profitable ride-hailing business and make it work as a smaller company. >> how about on the cost side of things? they have said they will cut jobs. is this potentially just the start? endobs matter, but at the of the day what matters is price competition. how they are digging into prices to gain ground relative to each other. that is why these stocks have been so related. there has been a price war going

think they said this would bp klos. question is if subsidies come down, what is the total adjustable market and does that limit the number of people who will take a ride? samsung unveiled its latest device this week. phone that will set you back about $1380. it is also smaller than its predecessor. the new device is a signal that samsung is committed to developing the foldable business. motorola'sis week is new device. we got our hands on the new razr.-- >> this is the new motorola

phone. remember the phone from 15 years ago? it was the standard pretty much everyone had back in the day. foe -- of being a normal phone, it is a foldable flip phone. it has plenty to like. and has thelistic high-tech features all phones have. but the technology is still super do burly. -- superduper early. there's a noticeable sound when you open and close the phone, just the hinge mechanism. and even though it is $1300, it does not feel reliable. it's to be seen how well this thing goes.

in yourity to put it skinny jeans and make it easily accessible. in nostalgia of having a phone that flips open and close. but the drawback of a normal , the cameras are behind the times because of the thinness of the mechanism. the hinge makes that noise. we will perhaps have to use this longer-term, but at this point, it's cool. but i don't think the technology is quite there yet. we will see where this goes. duo.r: and an unlikely changesi son makes pushed by paul singer. we are livestreaming on twitter. check us out and follow our global breaking news network on

twitter. this is bloomberg.

taylor: welcome back to the "best of bloomberg: technology." i'm taylor riggs in for emily chang. we had more tech earnings out this week, including alibaba on thursday. the cfo set of and growth for the quarter will be negatively impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. the epidemic has already caused significant delivery delays for the chinese tech giant. a spoke with john freeman and portfolio manager at newberger berman. wow, thataways were,

was a pretty good quarter. revenue growth was higher than expected, user growth was particularly impressive. 60% of new users are coming from the rural areas. there's a couple 300 billion who could join so there is more headroom to a lot of the growth drivers. the story really is the coronavirus and overall economic growth and to what degree that will impact earnings going forward. >> to that point, i would like to bring you back. overall negative impacts. how negative is the question. >> they did say it will be

negative in the low to mid single digits. they are seeing a lot of .upply-side dislocations with the network down, there are confusions around various cities, so moving people is different. second, they are supporting the infrastructure in terms of remedy effects. they are providing medicines free of cost, providing services and food to the doctors in the hospitals. third, they are actually helping the ecosystem by reducing the platform fees, providing discount fees. i think they are taking a short-term hit but building goodwill in the ecosystem. more importantly, i think one thing we walked away with is the consumers are now beginning to trust digital services more.

as you know, movement of goods and people is severely curtailed, and therefore people rely on digital services, which i think bodes very well for the long-term growth of alibaba. the last thing i would say is that the data point we have from the sars virus, whenever it got curtailed and we think this epidemic at some point be cured, we would see a spike in growth over the long-term. so, we have to go through a bit of a short-term pain, but we are positive on the future of alibaba over the long-term. taylor: that was john freeman and a guest from newberger berman. masayoshi son is opening the door to making at least some of the changes championed by paul singer. this, after a reported second quarter of losses. we joined the scarlet fu. >> i would say he was striking a conciliatory tone.

amicable and he was paying lip service to the things singer wants. fact wedded to the might address some of these things. he is saying the right things elliott wants to hear. he is also saying it in a favorable tone. he describes singer as his important partner. he described himself as the largest shareholder in softbank. they are naturally on the same page. sonali: elliott puts more money to work than anybody else. he is the most feared investor in the world. masa did not say he would do exactly what he wants. it is that $20 billion buyback. do you think what he did today was enough to ease some of those tensions? matt: we are in the early stages. these things move at their own cadence. the news broke a week ago. i think he did that because he knew earnings were coming out. it is going to take several weeks for them to continue engaging. was it enough today? i did not know if we were going to see that on the buyback. he said we are open to the idea

of buybacks. the time and size of that is going to depend. in terms of transparency, he said we are open to having some transparency in the vision fund, but he will not disclose the value of the private companies. my take away is that masayoshi son is his own guy. he is going to do what he is going to do. scarlet: some strong personalities. elliott is a feared shareholder here. has it been able to work out deals with the companies it has targeted in the past or does it always tend to get adversarial? matt: somebody wrote about him the other day and called him the boss who tells bosses what to do. when he puts his weight behind something, he often gets his way. i expect things are amicable. i probably suspect he will get a board seat or two. if things go that way, it is going to be another win for him. romaine: through all of this,

up, miker: coming rogers, a former house intelligence chairman, joins us to discuss how he thinks the u.s. can win the global race for 5g. wework brings in a new ceo. we discussed the challenges facing the real estate veteran. this is a bloomberg. -- this is bloomberg. ♪

taylor: the trump administration wants to develop a cohesive 5g policy, but there is widespread disagreement about how to get there. liam barr dismissed the effort to use homegrown equipment,

instead suggesting the government should work with nokia or ericsson to counter away. i spoke with former house intelligence chairman mike rogers. zte, two chinese companies. china wants data dominance they understand the need for building these networks. has invested into the next generation here as well as financing deals. no western company can compete, so we should be asking ourselves why they want to do that. should we be investing the way beijing is investing in there's? -- theirs?

>> there was an interesting take on it, which was to nationalize a company. ericsson and nokia are companies that we wants to compete. -- want to compete. i would do it differently. couldn't we help them on the rmd r&d front? financinghow about loans that would allow them to compete against companies around the world? to me, that's a better way. how concerned are you that the u.k. did not ban wally -- while way -- huawei?

>> i think it is terrible. notion that crazy they could protect the core. 5g is all about edge computing. that is how your communication is going to happen, out at the edge. change the wayl that the intelligence services share with great britain. we share more with them in real time than any other nation in the earth. that is going to change. you havethat, but given china the ability to turn off things when there is a disagreement. why would you want any foreign adversary to have that capability? and you can't kick them out.

there's an old saying, it's not where you get in, it's how you move. once you are in the network anywhere in the country, they can move around to places you don't want the chinese intelligence services. taylor: that was mike rogers. work has named a new ceo in a bid to salvage the embattled startup. took aestate veteran, he shopping mall operator out of bankruptcy and was the ceo of a partner property retail group. they have been remaking the management team and added its first woman to the board. strategy withthe a da davidson senior analyst. >> i have read reports about we work.

i feel this is one of their first really positive moves. they have been through a couple of changes but you hit the nail on the head when you said they have a real estate person at a real estate company. this is real estate first and he is the person to lead this company to profitability. glean fromt can you his previous work about turning ?round bankrupt companies >> sure. sandeep, being the ceo of a real estate company and bringing them through hard times, i think he's the person to lead this company. think he is the person to

bring this company public. he has the reputation and credibility with investors. i think softbank has funded enough money that they could complete what is needed to be done that's already in the pipeline. once a lease is signed, you have crossed the rubicon and needed to move forward with that entity. taylor: his first day is february 18. what should be his number one job on day one? what would you like to see him do? i think the ipo has got to be sixth on his list, but number one is getting out extraneous businesses -- out of extraneous businesses. generate whatever cash you can and get back to the crux of what we work is.

spacingmporary lease and that's what will make this company successful. that was da davidson's barry oxford. still, a possible solution to childhood blindness. we take a look at what experts are trying to achieve with gene therapy. that's next. this is bloomberg. ♪

taylor: this seven-year-old has a rare genetic disorder that limits his vision. scientists have developed a medication that has the potential to substantially improve his site. -- sight.

genesects in retinal cause a devastating form of childhood blindness. gene therapy is at the forefront of treating retinal degeneration. there are over 20 clinical trials addressing diseases in ways we did not think possible before. onhaving to make a decision his behalf has been a real struggle. this treatment could change our lives. it could stop a truly terrible disease. >> as we tackle the problem of childhood kindness will make a real breakthrough. -- blindness, this will make a real breakthrough and help us tackle problems we never thought possible. >> maverick is my first-born

child. he has been the most amazing child since the day he was born. i did not have experience with babies before, but i noticed he had a blank stare. i checked his tracking vision and it was nonexistent. we went through all of his fortic testing, looking specific genetic markers. it does not allow for light perception, so he is legally blind, specifically lowlight blindness. he does not have peripheral vision where vision below his waist. -- tunnelst, vision

vision. we are here in my room. this is my eyepatch. >> it has to be the right lighting to see. once the sun goes down, the world is very dark. we take him inside and turn on all of the lights until it is time for bed. isericks condition degenerative. there is no timeframe of when the degeneration will take place , but it is a well-known fact that he will be completely blind in later years. time to descend into fire and sulfur. 2017, the fda of approved gene therapy for his

specific condition. we went and spoke to a doctor shortly after it was approved. >> maverick was six years old when i met him. this family had struggled with getting a diagnosis and were excited to hear there was a treatment. this is a gina replacement therapy whereby we are delivering a healthy copy of the gene to patients with defective copies. this medication is a virus which has been modified. it's only job is to deliver genetic material. we deliver this virus with a fine needle underneath the retina. then, we have a healthy copy of the missing gene. unfortunately, the cells that absorb the light are constantly

generating and there gets to be a point when there simply are not enough cells to function, even if we were to deliver the gene back. so it makes a lot of sense to treat patients earlier when they have the cells. treatment early in children is really the way to achieve the best results. at children's hospital los angeles, we have treated 34 eyes. it is stable without any loss in function. five years ago, there was no treatment for this disease. lucky,k of patients, if got a diagnosis, but beyond that, there was not much else we could do. since fda approval of this gene therapy, it has opened the door to not just treating this rare

degeneration, but essentially any retinal degeneration. >> this has been probably the most difficult decision that i have ever had to make in my entire life. >> it makes me nervous because it is so new, and if it does not go well, it is my fault, because i chose to do this my child. i felt like i hit the jackpot when i had never. -- maverick. i don't know any kid who could go through what he has been through with such appreciation for life. he is willing to do or try anything. today, our life could change forever. >> love you. >> love you, buddy. >> he might go back home, and for the first time, have fun his

friends by the pool at desk, go trick-or-treating. these are the improvements that changes a child's life and the motor confidence that comes with interacting with their environment in a way they could not complete lifelong consequences. with lifelongomes consequences. ♪ >> it takes seven days for the

corrective dna to be absorbed. at seven days, he could potentially see again. it just comes in very small doses and it could take up to four months, they said. he had his two surgeries and we are home. the first day i really noticed something was different was riding in the car he said, mom, i'm looking outside and seeing what is outside. i've never been able to see through the windows. it seems so small, but it was life-changing for him to be able to look out of the window. tag.e more game of

ready? coming! [laughter] i see! years, wepast seven don't even come in the backyard at night. it is a true miracle. come here, get him! [laughter] >> he has a whole new level of independence and he is ready to conquer anything that is given to him. ♪

taylor: that is part of our series on the future of health and the business of health care. for more, you can go to bloomberg.com and follow liver tv. that doesn't it for this edition of the "best of bloomberg: technology." we will bring you all the latest in tech throughout the week aired -- week. we are livestreaming on twitter. check us out and follow our global breaking news network on twitter. this is bloomberg. ♪

jonathan: from new york city for our audience worldwide, i'm jonathan ferro. bloomberg "real yield" starts right now. coming up, treasury yields drive lower on the retails report. emerging markets resilient amid concerns in china. one white house fed nominee facing even more doubts. we begin with the big issue, low yields in the drivers seat. >> the bias is to lower yields. >> lower yields. >> yields move lower. >> lower global bond yields are certainly giving the u.s. some attention.